Yarn-furnishing mechanism for knitting machines



Nov. 24, 1925- K. HOWIE YARN FURNISHING MECHANISM FOR KNITTING MACHINES Filed April 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet l Nov. 24, 1925. 1,562,829

K. HOWIE YARN FURNISHING MECHANISM FOR KNITTING MACHINES Filed April 17, 1922 2 Sheets-$heet 2 liven/Q7:

7% ZWQZQ: ddwfi w Patented Nov. 24, 1925.

UNITED STATES,

PATENT OFFICE.

KENNETH HOWIE, OF NORRISTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO WILD'MAN MG. 00., OF NORRISTOWN. PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

YARN-FURNISHING MECHANISM FOR KNITTING MACHINES.

Application filed April 17, 1922. Serial No. 553,461.

I '0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that KENNETH HOWIE, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Norristown', in the countyof Montgomery, in the State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Yarn-Furnishing Mechanism for Knitting Machines, of which the following is a specification.

One object of the invention is to provide means for furnishing yarn to the needles of a knitting machine at a uniform tension, capable of adjustment to the degree desired.

Other objects will be clear from the following description.

The invention consists in the features and combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the appliance. A

Fig. 2 is a sectional plan view of the yarn furnishing wheels.

Fig. 3 is a front view of the appliance.

Fig. 4 is a detail view of a yarn sweep or take-up device.

In these drawings the yarn is shown at a: coming from an overhead guide ordirectly from an overhead bobbin. It passes through a shiftable guide eye 1 carried by a freely oscillatory member. 2 journalled on a pin 3 extending from a bracket 4 secured to the head or fixed frame member A.

From this guide 1 the yarn passes'between the toothed furnishing wheels 5, 6. The wheel 6 isanounted on a shaft 7 which is constantly rotated by gearing at 8 suitably driven from the main shaft of the machine in a manner similar to that shown in my application Serial #526,669, filed Jan. 3,1922. i p

This wheel 6 drives the wheel 5 by the intermeshing teeth of the two wheels. These wheels are of frusto-conical form, being of greatest diameter at their inner ends, or their ends nearest to the supporting head. These wheelsn'easure off the yarn in sufficient quantity to supply the needles by bendthrough a guide 9 which, may be either fixed,

or in the form of a movable dropper to opcrate a stop motion mechanism, as in my previous application above referred to.

From the guide 9 the yarn passes through a guide 10 to a sweep 11 andfrom the guide eye of this sweep the yarn passes through a fixed guide '12 to the main yarn guide of the knitting head located adjacent the needles.

According to the tendency of the yarn between the needles and the yarn furnishin wheels to vary in tension the sweep wit lts guides 1 and 11 will oscillate,- and will move the guide 1 along the conical yarn furnishing wheels, either one way or the other to meet the conditions as they arise.

When the yarn is under a tendency to increase to higher tension the guide 1 will be moved towards the large diameter portion of the conical wheels and consequently more yarn will be measured off by the intermeshing teeth to relieve the tensionand main-,

tain it at normal. whereas when the tension of the yarn tends to lower, then the guide 1 will be moved outwardly along the conical wheels towards the portions, thereof of smaller diameterand consequently less yarn will be furnished by the said wheels and the tension will be maintained at the degree prescribed.

The action of the sweep member 2 with its yarn guide 1 compensates for the stretching of the yarn due to increased tension. Suppose that the tension increases between the bobbin and the furnishing wheels, due to the yarn coming off from the bobbin less freely than it should: The action of the teeth of the furnishing wheels drawing oil the yarn by bending it between them will cause the yarn to stretch in that length lying between the bobbin and the furnishing wheels and at the same time there will be a tendency ofthe tension to rise in that length of the yarn extending between the furnishing Wheels and the needles because the yarn going through will be stretched and on relaxlng orreturning to normal length, will tend to increase on a bracket 13 pivote the tension in the portion of the yarn just yarn between the furmshin wheels and the needles is being used up without being relenished at the normal rate, the sweep will he pulled down and the guide e 'e 1 will be moved towards the large ends 0 the conical wheels with the result that moreyarn will be measured oil, so that the recovering tendency of the yarn, that is, its tendency to relax from its stretched condition, will not exert extra tension at the knitting int, but the tension here will be maintains substantially uniform.

The toothed furnishin wheel 5 is mounted d at 14 to the head A and adjusted by a nut 15 so as to make the teeth of the wheels mesh more ,or less deeply to obtain nicety in the amount of yarn furnished by the rotation of the wheels. The adjustment by the nut takes place against the pressure of the spring 16.

The sweep member is constructed to avoid violent or undue oscillatory movement and. it operates to secure the same effect that adash pot would give in eliminating overthrow due to momentum.

For this purpose the member 2 is formed hollow and is divided by a partition 17 into two compartments. The partition has upper and lower openings 18, 18' placing the two compartments in communication with each other. 'A body of mercury m is plaeedin the compartments and while the disc is selh sitive'initially to a force applied thereto, i. e. the pull of the yarn in this case, it is also sensitive to a cessation of this force and will stop its movement immediately the force is removed. This will be due to the weight of the mercury which will be lifted by the paltition when the disc is moved about its pivot and this body of mercury will act as a counterweight to exert a returning force.

upon the disc 2 or sweep.

During the movement of the sweep away from normal position and while the mercury is exerting a retardin action against overthrow, the mercur wil also be flowing gradually from the hig "compartment tothe low compartment and gradually lessening its tendency to make the disc turn violently in the opposite direction, and the flow of the mercury into the low compartment will add to the counterweight effect here and prevent the disc from swingin unduly on its return movement. Theppenm 18 isfor the pas sa of thenierk':- an the o nin 18, is fog the air. g

In 0 "raw, just the sweep to suit different grades or yarn an. adjustable counterweight 19"is provided on the sweep body. This wei t 19 is pivoted at 20 to the sweep body an by setting it in different positions along the are 31 the tension of the yarn may auaeae be varied. This counterweight will be held in any of its positions by a screw 21. This screw passes through an opening 22 in the bracket 4 and serves to limit the movement of the sweep and guide 1 within limits corresponding to the length of the conical yarn furnishing rolls.

The tension of the yarn delivered to the needles depends on the adjustment of the weight 19 pivoted on the sweep member 2. The adjustment of the wheels towards and from each other will not affect the tension because the sweep eye 1 will compensate by changing its position for the adjustment of the wheels towards and from each other. For instance, if the wheels are set closer together to mesh deeper and thus furnish more yarn, the guide 1 will move automatically towards the small end of the cone andthe result will be that the lengths measured oil will be thesame as before the wheels were adjusted, and the same is true if the wheels are adjusted apart to mesh less deepl for then the guide eye 1 will move toward s the large end of the cones.

The wheels might be non-adjustable if the approximate point of setting could be-accurately determined. With the ad'ustment of the wheels the device is rendere capable of attachment to machines of various cuts. With it the approximate point can be obtained at which the wheels should stand to give the desired quantity of yarn and the swinging of the uide 1 takes care of variations in tension y swinging towards both sides of this point. Short cones are thus usable. lVith non-adjustable cones they would have to be so long as to take care of all the different conditions of feed for different machines. In other words the adjustment of the wheels towards and from each other determines the approximate or average lengths of yarn to be measured off. This approximation is modified or refined by the movement of the guide 1 back and forth along the cones.

I may employ two swee with each air of toothed furnishing whee Each of t ese will take care of one yarn and their yarn guides 1 will be arranged to pass each-other so that one .yarn may pass the other accord ing to the tension conditions in the res yarns.

tive Each sweep will move in epend- -ently of the other. Both oscillatory memwould, however, pass throu h different dro per wire guides 9 so that if either broke, t e stop motion would operate.

By adjusting the weights carried by these sweeps the relative tension of the two yarns can be regulated, and plating may be done. Instead of runnin the two yarns to one feed they may be id off to different feeds of the machine.

It will be seen from the above that the present invention is a refinement of that disclosed in the application above referred to in so far as the yarn furnishing means is concerned, the present invention taking care of more variations in the yarn conditions.

It will be understood that the present invention can be used with the stop motion organization shown in said application, taking the place of the yarn furnishing wheels shown in said application.

Not only does my device take care of the various conditions noted above but it will take care of any tendency which the tension may have to make the yarn slip between the wheels. This tendency will be compensated for by a shifting of the yarn guide automatically to cause the wheels to feed faster when the tension increases and slower when the tension decreases.

It will be noted that with my invention the yarn is measured oil by wheels having teeth which intermesh varyingly as to depth, the principle involved being such that when the tension on the yarn increases the measuring will result from the deeper intermesh, whereas when the yarns tension decreases the measuring oif will result from the lesser intermesh of the teeth. In the particular construction disclosed herein, as an exemplification of one form of means which ma be employed to carry my invention into e ect, the teeth are on wheels of conical form and they mesh deepest at the large ends of the wheels, the depth of mesh gradually decreasing towards the small ends of the conical wheels. I do not limit myself however to the construction shown, as other species may be employed within the generic principles involved to get the variable measuring off of the yarn according to the variations in the tension thereof.

The particular form of wheels shown herein, however, as an example, of a physical embodiment of the invention, has the advantage of giving a wide range of variation in the measuring action because of the different depths to which the teeth mesh at different points along them and also because of the different diameters of the front and back ends of the wheels.

The above description and accompanying drawing are illustrative of the invention and are not to be regarded as restrictive upon the scope thereof, because changes can be made within the skill of those versed in this art and still employ the underlying features and principle of m invention, the scope of which is defined y the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In combination a pair of rotary yarn furnishing members ada ted to feed the yarn at 'd1tferen-t rates 0 speed according to the difierent positions along the members to whlch the yarn is moved to pass between them, a guide pivoted above the rotary members, depending from its pivot and moving along a plane coinciding with the plane in which the rotary members meet, a sweep arranged above the plane of the rotary members and having a swinging movement, and

connected with the said pivoted guide, said sweep reaching toa point beyond the outer ends of the rotary "members, and a guide below the rotary members receiving the yarn therefrom and directing it upwardly to the sweep, substantially as described. 2. In combination, a pair of yarn furnishing members adapted to feed the yarn at different rates of speed according to the different positions along the members to which the yarn 1s moved to pass between them, said members being arranged on horizontal axes, a pa1r of yarn guides turning about a horizontal axis extending transverse to the vertical planes in which the axes of the rotary members lie, said guides swin ing in planes ad acent to, parallel with an on op osite sides of the vertical plane in which t e rotary members meet and sweeps connected with the yarn guides to turn them about said axis according to variations in the tension of the yarns, said yarn guides being free to pass each other, substantially as described.

3. In combination, a pair of rotary yarn furnishing members adapted! to feed the yarn at different rates of speed, according to the diiferent positions along the members to which the yarn is moved to pass between them, a guide pivotally su ported and moving along a plane coinci ing substantially with the plane in which the rotary members meet, a sweep arranged on the same side of the members with the guide, and connected to the guide to move about the same pivot therewith, and a dropper guide on the opposite side of the members from that upon which is located the first mentioned guide receivin the yarn after passing through the first gui e and the rotary members, and directing it to the sweep, substantially as described.

4. In combination, rotar yarn furnishing means to supply the nee les of a knitting machine at different rates according to the point at which the yarn contacts therewith, a yarn guide movable alon said yarn furnishing means to change t e point of contact of the yarn therewith, a sweep subject to the varying tension of the yarn by which 4 v unease said sweep is moved, and means connecting said hollow mounting preventing undue viwith the said movable yarn guides and sweep, brati'on and .vamatlon of the mt of oon- 10 and serving as a mountmg therefor, said tact of the yarn with the sai rotm y yarn -,means conslsting of a hollow body pivotally furnishing means, substantially as deniounted and containing a body of liquid scribed.

v therein and divided into two compartments In testimony whereof, I afiigr my signature.

by a vertical perforated partition for the flow of fluid from one compartmentto the other, KENNETH HOVVIE. 

